1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of medical equipment and more particularly to disposable tongue retractors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has long been the practice of medical doctors, in the examination of a patient, to examine the patient's throat to determine, for example, if the throat is inflamed or the tonsils enlarged or infected. This requires swabbing for bacterial culture, a procedure detested by both child and adult patients. The long accepted procedure has been for the physician to insert a straight flat stick, commonly referred to as a tongue depressor, into the mouth along a downwardly and rearwardly inclined plane to press downwardly on the back of the tongue to lower the tongue and enlarge the opening in the throat so as to view the surface tissue of the throat itself. Unfortunately, this procedure frequently causes intense gagging.
Commonly known disposable tongue depressors come in different sizes for adults and children and are usually fabricated from flat strips of wood a little over 1 cm wide, about 11 cm long and rounded at their opposite ends. These depressors have long been a standard in the industry and have experienced little improvement over the years.
Efforts to improve on these flat veneer sticks have led to the proposal that the sticks themselves be subjected to an extremely expensive procedure where the wood is moistened and heated to be formed to a desired configuration. It was believed that there would be a benefit to providing a lateral offset between the hand grip portion and the tongue depressing portion. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,661 to Hull. While effective for providing the desired offset between the handle portion and tongue depressing portion, such a device is expensive to manufacture and does little to facilitate drawing of the tongue forward without undue downwardly depression of the tongue itself.
There would be a benefit in providing a device which would allow the physician to draw the tongue forwardly rather than just pushing it downwardly. In this regard, it has been proposed to provide a tongue depressor which incorporates a gradual continuous curve from the forward to the rearward end thereof and is formed on at least its bottom side with serrations which might actually engage the tongue to provide a frictional force between the tongue depressor and the tongue in effort to provide a means for drawing the tongue forward. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,503 to Rooney. While offering some benefit, the device proposed by Rooney suffers the shortcoming that the curvature of the longitudinal distance of the depressor is inadequate to allow the physician to positively engage behind the tongue of the patient to positively draw the tongue forwardly without undue downward pressure on the tongue itself.
Further efforts have led to the proposal of a rather elaborate tongue depressor including a handle portion constructed with an illuminating light and having a tongue engaging portion which is curved slightly downwardly and formed on its underside with sawtooth serrations defining teeth intended to grippingly engage the tongue in hopes that such gripping action would facilitate in forward drawing of the tongue. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,014 to Rooney. Such devices, while serving to provide some illumination, are expensive to manufacture and the sawtooth-like serrations can introduce some discomfort for the patient, particularly one with a sore tongue.
Other efforts have led to combine a metal tongue depressor with a mirror examination instruments. The ends of the tongue depressor are bent downwardly at an angle so that a flat planar mirror segment may be mounted therein. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,191 to Canan. Such devices have little utility for effectively drawing the tongue forward without extensive downward depression and are relatively expensive to manufacture, are not disposable and are difficult to sterilize.
Other work led to the proposal of an insufflator having a tubular dispenser and polished metal retractor paddle to engage over and behind the tongue to drive it down for viewing the throat to guide the medical doctor in using the insufflator tube. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 412,409 to Osborne. Such devices do not lend themselves to general throat examination and are so expensive to manufacture, they are not typically thought of as being disposable. Many of these prior art devices are intended to be used with local or general anesthesia during surgery.
Consequently, there exists a need for an inexpensive tongue retractor which will effectively engage behind the patient's posterior tongue in such a manner that the posterior tongue can be drawn forwardly without undue downward pressure thereon. The device must be of relatively inexpensive construction, disposable and the same instrument should be adaptable for both child and adult patients.